BlockBefore

Sunnyvale, California

52 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1897 and the latest in 1991. It stands in the San Jose census division. It lies in ZIP code area 94086. The Survey maps it on the Cupertino quadrangle. 155,805 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 125 feet above sea level.

Sunnyvale within Santa Clara County

Then and now

1897 to 1991

The same ground, surveyed 94 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Sunnyvale, surveyed 1991
Topographic sheet of Sunnyvale, surveyed 1897

On record in Sunnyvale

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 1 record

Population over time

3 figures

Sunnyvale grew from 3,094 to 155,805 between 1930 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
19303,094
2010140,081
2020155,805+15,724 (+11%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

21 surveys from 52 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

176 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 176 fires within 5 miles of Sunnyvale between 1993 and 2020, burning about 71 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 13 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined90
Smoking24
Equipment and vehicle use21
Arson/incendiarism13
Power generation/transmission/distribution11
Misuse of fire by a minor10
Debris and open burning5
Railroad operations and maintenance1
Natural1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
7 September 2009Arson/incendiarismunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
4 September 2018Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
30 September 2017Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
30 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
3 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSanta Clara Unitnot named
3 September 2016Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
28 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSanta Clara Unitnot named
27 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Santa Clara County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 11 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 11 workings within 5 miles of Sunnyvale: 7 producers, 3 past producers, 1 unknown. 7 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Stone, Calcium, Stone, Dimension. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Bay EvaporatorsSaltProducer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Near QuarryStoneProducer
Permanente Cement PlantCalciumProducer
Permanente Cement PlantLimestone, General, ClayProducer
Stevens Creek QuarryStone, DimensionUnknown
Commercial MaterialsStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Commercial MaterialsStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Mt. View Crushing PlantStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Sondgrath Bros.Stone, Crushed/BrokenProducer

Every working recorded in Santa Clara County

Storms near this place

5 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sunnyvale in 5 storm reports between 1998 and 2020: 2 tornado, 2 hail, 1 flood. The reports record 1 injury. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 1998Tornado (F2)Sunnyvale1 hurt, $3,800,000no account filed
February 1998Tornado (F0)Sunnyvale$100,000Very weak tornado touched down at Lockheed Martine plant in sunny vale with some minor damage.
March 2020HailSunnyvale-Pea-sized hail reported in south Sunnyvale.
January 2019FloodSunnyvale-Roadway flooding at NB101 to Fair Oaks Ave off ramp.
March 2018HailSunnyvale-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Santa Clara County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Cuernavaca1.4 miles52
Sylvan Park1.6 miles52
Waverly Park1.8 miles52
Lawrence2.2 miles28
Cuesta Park2.5 miles52
Mountain View2.8 miles52
Woodland Acres2.9 miles52
Loyola Corners2.9 miles52

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on SunnyvaleAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q208459The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1656344. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.